Souvenirs

The idea is a good one. Andrew Green and Yukari Higo capture the testimony of three migrant women who talk about a ‘souvenir’ from their homeland. Each piece of testimony is accompanied by still images of the object they are speaking about and pictures relating to the emotions they say the objects evoke.

The problem with this film is that it isn’t really a film – it’s more akin to a slideshow. By only using photographs rather than moving images it distances the audience from the subject matter. With a more interesting mix of styles or actual footage of the women this could have been cinematically engaging. As it is, although the stories are entertaining in their own right, the accompanying images fall short of doing them proper justice.